LifeSavers

The story of how LifeSavers were created is one of those classic happy accidents. They came about in 1912 when Clarence Crane was looking for a candy to sell in the summer when chocolate was difficult to store. He concieved of a hard mint and engaged a pill manufacturer to make them for him. They found that the candies were easier to make if they were donut shaped and thus the candy and name Lifesavers was born.

The Five Flavor LifeSavers are not a compressed dextrose candy, instead they’re a boiled sugar candy. While the Pep-O-Mint was going strong, the fruit flavored versions were introduced in 1924 as simple hard candy disks. In 1929 technology caught up with demand and LifeSavers got their holes. The original fruit roll was all citrus - Lemon, Lime and Orange. In 1935 they became the Five Flavor Roll with Cherry and Pineapple joining the mix. And that’s how it was until 2003.

Then the internet mucked it all up. Wrigley’s, who now owns LifeSavers, decided to change up the flavors in the roll because they thought that the old flavors were hurting sales. So they let voters add their voice at their website. I think this was their first mistake. First, you could only vote for the flavors on their list. Second, they were only polling those people who visited their site ... I’m sure the great majority of LifeSavers consumers do not visit CandyStand.com, which appears to be designed for kids.

But I digress. Or ramble. And will continue to ... this is just one of those posts.

I had a yard sale over the weekend and my neighbor Robin brought some stuff over, which included a bunch of stuff from her desk that included a roll of LifeSavers. I, of course, wanted them. They looked like the original flavors (you can tell because it doesn’t have the purple stripe) but I wasn’t sure because it listed CandyStand.com.

I took them up to the Candy Blog labs for a look and found that they were in fact the original Five Flavor roll (the ones pictured above, not here to the left). They were not in great condition, as hard candies often get milky looking after about three years. But there they were, the original Five Flavors: Orange, Lemon, Cherry, Pineapple and Lime. They were stuck together and stood up easily for the photo. The package also spells out the word Five, and important distinction.

The new roll heralds that it has NEW FLAVORS! though it makes no mention of what they are. I understand not mentioning the flavors on the old roll, they’d been around since 1935 ... LifeSavers, a part of living.

The new roll also saves copoius amounts of ink by calling itself 5 Flavors, thus saving on those icky and expensive letters.

Raspberry is good, nice and fruity with a good wine robustness. Watermelon is nice, fruity and floral. And of course the original pineapple is a glorious song that I hope will never end, orange is dependable and citrusy and cherry continues to be the epitome of medicinal-tasting candy. The old flavor set held one candy I would always give away ... the new one has three I don’t care for. I can’t just buy a LifeSavers 5 Flavor roll for orange and pineapple.

The saddest part of the whole LifeSavers story is that they stopped making the single flavor rolls that I loved so much. Tangerine was simply marvelous. More juicy, more zesty and more tangy that the simple orange, I could eat a whole roll in one sitting, no matter how long I was sitting down. While I might complain at the loss of flavors, I do have to applaud them for putting more in a roll. (I believe the old rolls used to hold 12 candies, the newer ones hold 14.) I might have to switch to Tropical Fruit as my go-to roll ... I wonder how much they’ve mucked that up lately.

Note: LifeSavers are now made in Canada. They also don’t have those little green strings that help you start a roll anymore.

i am so out of the candy loop! my fav memories with lifesavers was passing out any non-pineapple flavored lifesavers to my friends so i could savor the ‘best’ flavor…. *tear* goodbye childhood memories of sticky hands and sugar high summers… okay it’s not THAT bad but no more lifesavers for me. boo. hoo.

Why does everyone seem to think people would rather have [gross, disgusting] WATERMELON over other “red” (or in this case- green?) flavours??? I am so sick of watermelon candy. I’d take medicinal cherry or kitchen cleaner lime and yes maybe even strawberry over watermelon any day. Blackberry sounded exciting to me, but you later described it as raspberry (another artificial flavour I can’t stand)- I’m curious which it actually is… Blackberry I’d be willing to give a try.

They’ve ruined a classic, for shame! Why can’t we just have the good old fashioned flavours back? Citrus is perfect for candies like this.

And since I’m ranting- what is with candies trading out lime (a classic!!) for CANDY APPLE? Man, green apple candy is even more overpowering than GRAPE. (For instance- Sprees- lime lends itself perfectly to these candies, but instead they have green apple. Gross.)

Sorry, I know that everyones taste buds are different. But I haven’t had a place to discuss these very important issues until I found your blog :D

Thanks for your pretty pictures- I have to admit, I kind of like the way the look when they are milky. Also- whatever happened to Life Saver holes? Those were a big hit among me and my middle school friends in the early 90s.

Shame on them for ruining a classic. I have such find memories as a kid enjoying ALL the flavors of the Five Flavor Roll. Pineapple is definately the best, orange in second. Is there any way we could write and complain?

My parents were not candy people when I was growing up, but somehow there were always Lifesavers kicking around—in my mom’s purse, in my dad’s desk drawer, the car glove compartment. Do you remember those “books” they used to sell at Christmas time, with a bunch of different rolls in them? I’d always get one as a present, and then my Mom would stock up on more of them at post Christmas sales.

I had to comment on this one…I LOVED the tangerine! It was like a compulsion to eat every last one, and they were so tasty…It’s even hard now to find the tropicals…and I also miss the gummy savers in wacky fruit flavor…sigh

Here’s another vote for tangerine. Possibly the best citrus candy flavor ever. I also loved cinnamon. It came in a beige wrapper and was a softer, white LifeSavers. I would eat a roll in one sitting. They were just yummy.

My favorite LifeSavers ever were the pressed dextrose CinnOmon. They were definitely different from cinnamon boiled candies.

I’m not opposed to the blackberry, as it was in the WildBerry pack that I liked. But I have to agree with everyone else, watermelon or green apple are an abomination and should never, ever be substituted for lime!

So I don’t eat lifesavers ever, but I was just down in our office’s little convenience store and noticed that Canadian five-flavour roles still have the original flavours AND that we still have single-flavour roles (although I didn’t see any tangerine, there were some butter rum). I guess they thought the new flavours would be just way to much for our simple Canadian sensibilities… hahaha!

hey Cybele- so nice that you follow the comments on your awesome blog. But where’s the review of my all time favorite candy Rowntree’s Pastilles, available from yahoo? Once a year I go through a major indulgence and eat about a dozen rolls in a week. I think it’s the supreme gummy candy…

They were made in Asia ... maybe they’re the same thing with a different name?

I’m hoping to check in on a Brit import store about an hour south of me when I’m in the area next, probably in a couple of weeks. I’ll put it on my list of things to see if they have (otherwise I’ll head to the internet).

I really miss lime. My family used to get Lifesavers frequently but ever since it changed I think we got it twice. I want LIME. I miss LIME. I always wanted a whole LIME role. Cherry is great and they made a Cherry role, but no longer… And that Tangerine, I forgot all about that. That was great too. I have never liked Watermelon or Green Apple, I don’t understand either why LIME keeps getting replaced. I guess it helps me not eat candy…

I’ve recently started looking for the all tangerine, the tropical fruits and the fancy fruits rolls. Butter rum was good too. My grandma always had those flavors for me and I would really like to purchase some. So, do we have to go to Canada?

Does anyone else remember the Stik-O-Pep Life Savers? They were one of my favorites as a kid. I discovered a few years ago that they had brought them back at Christmas time individually
wrapped in bags and called them ‘Candy Cane’ Life Savers. I gambled and bought a bag, and sure enough it was the old Stik-O-Pep. I went back and bought all they had that year and have bought
enough at Christmas every year to last until the next year. Now it looks as if they have done it to me again. I guess what surprised me the most was that when they hit the shelf in stores here,
you better buy them quick or they would be gone. My guess would be that they will never be seen or available again. Just another great marketing decision….not.

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All content (text and photos unless otherwise credited) is copyright 2005-2017 by Cybele May

Please do not use my photos without prior permission directly from me, they represent what I ate in preparation for these reviews and are not to be used for other purposes.